Monday, August 07, 2006

Fresh xpressions through August?

Through August we are trying 4 different styles & flavas of church!
Yesterday was CafeChurch called 'Refresh Your Spirit' in our new cafe with drinks, music, papers and 'prayer stations'. We had discussions about the place of the table in our homes, upbringing, faith and church life. We gathered around 9 tables instead of being in rows in front of one. It was an amazing experience - if not very challenging for a couple of people.
We offered quiet 1-2-1 prayer in a separate prayer room throughout the time, a global healing station with opportunity to pray blessing and our hopes & wishes for world situations and there was a 'postcard to God' area. Someone had made beautiful displays with photos and quotes about refreshing, restoring, healing and body-spirit which were set around the cafe and one in front of the water feature. The most popular station was the tea-trolley covered with a white sheet and a sand tray with small candles. The large candle was given last week to the church by a member whose relative has recently died. It was very powerful for that to be offered to church and to use it yesterday as our central candle from whom all others were lit. The hand massage was busy throughout the hour and a half time and church lasted 2-2 1/2 hours for some! Cushions were handy for some people and there were some things we need to do differently for next Sunday.
We made about 20 invitations with short explanations and asked people to take one to invite someone through August. There are still a handful of invites left but 9 people came along who are not usually there - they came because of word of mouth, friendship and support. They came because they needed to get out of the house of stress and into a different place. They came because they are inquiring about faith but they have tried traditional church and it does not fit.
Next Sunday is 'Feast!' when we are meeting in Painswick Park for about 45 mins near the little lake and re-telling the story of the feeding of the masses - 4 or 5000! We are going to offer picnic blankets, fold-up chairs along with the park benches, fresh bread & grapes as it is also our communion Sunday and we're going to make musical instruments to use too. We hope that this outdoor worship will pave the way for the following week when we 'Celebrate the Earth!' by meeting in the shared gardens in the church grounds, share creation stories, make animal puppets, have a prayer tree and listen to poems & stories by other members. Hope it doesn't rain!!